Shot To The Heart
by ComradeSubmission
Summary: In a world far away from Sora's own, a fight to save a world from the Heartless begins.
1. Chapter 1

Shot To The Heart

Chapter 1 - Storyteller

It was during the same time Sora was having his adventures. There was another Keyblade wielder, in another world, having his own adventure against the Heartless. His name was Spike. He was 19 years old, quite handsome considering the world which he came from, but above all he was a Keyblade wielder. In his world the Keyblade has somewhat of a history, it is said that the first Keyblade wielder came from this world yet nothing is known about him in his world of origin. Spike had long blond hair from where he had not cut it for some time, he hadn't had the chance to cut it since he joined the Resistance against the Heartless and their emperor, Jirak. Jirak was the ruler of this world and had one day stumbled across a book about a legend. The legend of the Heartless. He studied this book of his, then one day he discovered a way to summon Heartless which is what he did. He summoned legions of Heartless to do his bidding, the darkness of these creatures had corrupted him to such an extent that his long white hair had become jet black and his baby blue eyes had become a shade of brown so dark that they now looked as black as night. This all happened 50 years ago.

Fast forward 31 years to the day that Spike was born, his father had been killed in the war against the Heartless. After making it to Jirak's chambers, he was gutted by one of Jirak's nameless henchmen. Being the first to get as far in to Jirak's castle, he was regarded as somewhat of a hero among humanity and regarded as a villain by the Heartless. Spike's mother was a young farm girl named Herty, she lived in one of the only places in the world that the Heartless had not attempted to destroy for it was fairly worthless. Herty worked on her father's farm, tending to the cattle every morning at 6am was hard work on this new mother but she did it for the love of her son. Spike used to ride the cows when he was very young, he would ask his grandfather every day for him to pick him up and put him on the cows back. Spike led a happy life. Until he was 15.

On Spike's 15th birthday, the Heartless destroyed his grandfathers farm. It wasn't known why they did this, there were rumours that the first Keyblade wielder had come back and that they sensed his heart there so destroyed the entire farm in hopes of finding him. Spike's grandfather led Spike down into an area beneath the house, an area which was safe from Heartless as a wizard had cast a spell on every house in the areas untouched by Heartless to create an area in which the Heartless could not go. With Spike safe, his grandfather went back to fight off the Heartless. He failed. His heart was taken by the Heartless as he tried to protect his daughter, his daughter watched as his body disappeared and his heart was corrupted by the darkness inside as it became a Heartless. Then she watched as the Heartless from her father took her heart too. The farm was wiped out, the only survivor was Spike. As he woke up the next morning he could hear that the Heartless had left so he went up to see what had happened and cried as soon as he saw it. Darkness. For miles. It was all there was. Everything had been destroyed by the Heartless and nothing had been left as it was. There was barely anything left of a single building, all that Spike could see was a dead cow. As he stood crying, looking at what was his home, that's when it happened, his Keyblade appeared before him. He knew it was his. Somehow he just knew. He picked it up and vowed to destroy every Heartless he saw, which he did until he was 17.

Spike was 17 now and had been travelling the world killing Heartless to become stronger, strong enough to end Jirak's reign on this world. He had found several "Keychains" which appeared to give his Keyblade different attributes when attached to it, and today he would get new one which he would keep with him till the day he died. As he fought Heartless, he saw eyes that he recognised in one of them. They were the eyes of his grandfather. He wasn't quite sure that he should destroy this one as it used to be his grandfather, but then he remembered his vow to destroy all Heartless, and he remembered what he had been taught by his mentor, Hiroshima. He had told him, "Heartless are not who they used to be, they do not even keep their memories. The are merely a corrupted Heart." Spike destroyed the Heartless of his grandfather and began to walk away, but something caught his eye. Where the Heartless had been there was a Keychain, it resembled both Spike's grandfather and Spike's mother. Spike attached it to his Keyblade and continued to destroy Heartless. After a few hours however, he broke his vow of destroying all Heartless. As he was fighting some, he heard a voice.  
"Please! Spike! Stop!" The voice pleaded. Spike began to grow weary at this voice, unsure of where it was coming from.  
"Who's there?" Asked Spike, the reply did not come for some time until finally, "I'm over here" the voice came as a Heartless stood up.  
Spike readied his Keyblade and prepared to destroy the Heartless, but then asked "But… how can you speak"  
The Heartless replied "I have been here a long time Spike, over time any Heartless could learn to speak. I want to tell you something"  
Spike put his Keyblade down and sat on the rock, "Talk… but try anything funny and you're gone"  
"Thank you" the Heartless said to Spike, "Now please listen, I am not evil. I was cursed in the time of the first Keyblade wielder. That is how I became so humanoid"  
Spike looked at the Heartless and realised he really was quite humanoid, he looked like a human but with bright yellow eyes and skin the same colour as that of the Heartless. The Heartless' mouth had also become quite humanoid but was still very similar to the Heartless, as had the hands and feet.  
"Okay. So what are you trying to tell me? That you're a Heartless cursed to look human?" Spike retorted,  
"No no no… much more than that" The Heartless replied "I was not only cursed to look more human, but also to have light in me, a conscience, a soul and a mind. I'm more light than I am darkness"  
"I see. But I don't care" Spike said standing up "You're still gonna be destroyed"  
"No! Please let me help you. The Heartless can't hurt me because I am already one of them. I can also get you in to more places than you can go now." The Heartless said,  
Spike sat down again, "Explain"  
The Heartless began to talk again "There is a place called Kingdom Hearts, the place where all hearts are born. There is a Keychain there that you will need if you want to succeed in your fight"  
Spike look at his new Keychain he had got from the Heartless of his grandfather, it looked like his grandfathers eye, when attached to his Keyblade it changed it's appearance to a grey coloured Keyblade with soft edges, rather than the sharp, jagged edges that most of his Keychains gave his Keyblade.  
"…But you can not get in to Kingdom Hearts yourself, only beings of pure darkness, like Heartless, can get in. So I can get in for you and give you the Keychain." The Heartless finished.  
"So what's in it for you?" Spike asked suspiciously,  
"I'm hoping that I might learn something more in Kingdom Hearts about myself. About why I was cursed with light, and if I can redeem myself for what I have done in the past. I have been around a long time, destroyed many villages, destroyed an entire world by myself once. I want to find a way of restoring that world and those villages. I think the key to doing that lies within Kingdom Hearts"  
"What's your name?" Spike asked,  
"Hikari" the Heartless answered,  
"Well… Hikari… You're lucky I believe you about your curse, and that you actually do want to restore the places you have destroyed. It's clear you're fighting the good fight." Spike said,  
"So I can join you?" Hikari pleaded,  
"Yeah. But if anybody tried to kill you for what you are. I'm not sure I will be able to protect you. There's a large resistance against your kind, I have not joined them because I have my own reasons for doing what I do, and I don't need help from them. I have my Keyblade."

One year on, the Resistance begged Spike to join them and offered to give him lots of money, so he did. Some of them could not accept Hikari though, so the scientists among them did certain tests on him to confirm he did have the curse he claimed to have. The tests resulted positive, he had told the truth and was accepted in to the Resistance. Spike met the leader of the Resistance, he was named Laguna. He and Laguna became good friends, it was not clear why but people thought perhaps they had similar pasts as neither of them would talk about theirs. One day when some Heartless came to fight the Resistance however, this all changed. Laguna had been leading his men in to battle and was changed in to a Heartless, but not before he threw his Badge of Leadership to Spike. When the new Heartless was formed, Spike gave him a nod and sliced him in half with his Keyblade.  
"I have some bad news." Spike told the men, "Laguna was taken by the Heartless. He's gone now"  
"So who will take over?" Hikari asked, "I read the books of this Resistance's past and it said that he who wears the badge is the rightful leader of us"  
"You mean this badge?" Spike asked as he took the Badge of Leadership from his pocket and showed it to the men. As he held the badge out, the thousands of men in the Resistance kneeled before him. They kneeled before their new leader. Spike had inherited the trust of the Resistance to lead them in to battle.

One year on and it's the present day.  
"So what's our plan?" Asked the Sergeant,  
"Simple," Spike smirked, "Today, we're going to save the planet." 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 - Invasion of Light

Spike remembered all his memories of his life as he held to the rope from the Resistance's Airship, today was the big day that he would save the planet. He, Hikari and Sergeant Jones held on to the rope of the airship with one hand as they flew towards Jirak's castle, their other hands holding their weapons. Jones held his sword, Hikari held one of his guns and Spike held on to his Keyblade. They were completely suited in their Resistance uniform, a purple top cut at the arms and green jeans to show that they were part of the Resistance, which Spike had renamed to Laguna in memory of his old friend and leader.  
"Remember, as soon as we get above the run way, we jump down and run towards the castle. If any Heartless come we take them out to make a clearer path for our troops. You got that?" Spike said,  
"Yeah yeah we remember what we have to do to get you in to the castle, but what do you intend to do once we're inside and we're taking out Heartless?" Jones asked,  
"You'll know when it's done." Spike replied much to Jones' dismay.  
"If you intend to end this by yourself Spike, you cant. You can't deny help from others." Jones began to plead with Spike.  
"There it is!" Hikari said, "The castle"  
Spike and Jones looked and sure enough, there it was. The castle had become a dark shade of purple thanks to the Heartless' presence. They were bubbles of darkness raising on the castles surface and as each one popped, no less than a hundred Heartless poured out of it. Several minted later they could see the runway,  
"There it is. You two ready?" Spike asked,  
"Yeah" Jones answered as Hikari gave Spike a nod.  
"As soon as we can, we jump from this rope hanging from the bottom of the airship and land on that runway, then we run towards the castle gates and destroy any Heartless that comes close to us. As soon as we're in we continue to fight and wait for the rest of the troops to get inside. I'll lead since I have the Keyblade, Hikari will follow as the Heartless can not harm him and Jones, you will follow behind us." Spike told them, "Understood? Good. We're nearly there"  
Spike held his walkie talkie to his mouth and spoke to the rest of the troops, "As soon as you land and see that we have entered the castle, you all jump off and follow us in to the castle. If you see any Heartless, kill it"  
"Apart from me!" Hikari yelled,  
"Apart from Hikari." Spike said.  
The airship was now above the runway. Spike's team of 3 jumped from the rope they had held on to for their life and began to run up.

The moment they landed, no less than five hundred Heartless appeared from the sides of the runway,  
"And here I was hoping we'd have a party, and all we get are what? 600? Geez…" Jones joked.  
Spike ran at a group of Heartless coming at them as he swung his Keyblade around from right to left, the Heartless were each defeated by the first strike. Jones did not get it that easy however, his sword had no advantage against the Heartless so he rarely destroyed one. But he fought with his heart, and the memories of the ones he had loved who were taken by Heartless, and that was enough to keep him alive. Hikari could fight without fear, the Heartless were completely ineffective against him as the Heartless could only unlock Hearts and bring out the darkness in them to turn it in to a Heartless, but Hikari was already a Heartless so he fought with no fear as he used his hand guns to shoot through Heartless. The bullets did not have much effect on them but it did slow them down which was all that was needed for their plan to work. It only took about 10 minutes for Spike to reach the castle gates, so he cleared the area with his Keyblade until Hikari and Jones reached them.  
"Hikari" Spike heard the voice,  
"Who was that?" Spike asked, he turned around to see a Heartless, but a different Heartless, unlike any he had seen before,  
"No… a NEO Shadow!" Hiroshima said from the Airship which had landed, "Dammit"  
"So Hikari never told you about me?" The Heartless said, "My name is Drake,  
"Who are you?" Spike asked, "Were you cursed too"  
"In a way, but I have overcome that curse. But I did keep the ability to talk though. Jirak helped me with that." Drake answered. "Now… I must take care of Hikari." He said as he began to walk past Spike.  
"No you're not." Spike said as he back flipped to face Drake, he held his Keyblade to Drakes chest, "You got me to take care of first"  
Spike swiped at Drake but he jumped over the Keyblade and kicked Spike who then back flipped twice and lunged at Drake hitting his arm with the Keyblade.  
"That was just luck." Drake laughed as he began to throw balls of darkness at Spike. Spike deflected the balls for a while but eventually got hit by one.  
"Shit!" Spike shouted, "What the hell are they"  
"Little iddy biddy balls of darkness, complete and utter darkness." Drake answered,  
"Damn you." Spike replied as he held his arm that was hit by the ball, " I swear I'll destroy you"  
The battle continued as Spike swiped his Keyblade at Drake as he continuously dodged it, eventually Drake got the upper hand and threw Spike to the floor.  
"Ready to become… me?" Drake retorted as he put his hand to Spike's chest and started to unlock his heart. Suddenly Drake let go of Spike as he was attacked by something. It was Hikari shooting bullets at him.  
"HIKARI!" Drake yelled,  
"Now! Spike! Use your Keyblade!" Hikari yelled, Spike stood up with his Keyblade in hand and gave Drake a little grin.  
"Now, for real. You thought you would beat me?" Spike mocked as he slashed Drake in half with his Keyblade, "Thanks Hikari"  
"No problem." Hikari replied, "Hey, where's Jones"  
Jones was having some trouble with a group of Heartless, they were too strong for him and his sword. Not even his heart would be enough to keep him alive this time.  
"Dammit. This could be it. The end." Jones cried as he hit the floor, the five Heartless began to circle round him.  
"Sorry, Maria. I couldn't avenge you"  
One of the Heartless jumped on to Jones chest and raised its hand, Jones life flashed before his eyes as the Heartless' hand lowered to go through his chest in to his heart. He remembered his wife, Julie, and his daughter, Maria who were both taken by Heartless. He remembered Maria's smile and Julie's touch. A blinding flash of light filled Jones' eyes, and as the light went away Jones saw Spike fighting Heartless away from him.  
"Come on" Spike said to Hikari as he picked up Jones and put him on his shoulder, "You take him back to the airship"  
"NO!" Jones shouted, "I will fight!" He crawled out of Hikari's grasp and ran to the castle, knocking Heartless out of his way.  
"NOW! Come on!" Spike shouted as he signalled the troops on the airship to start their run down the runway.  
Thousands of troops jumped from the airship and began their run, knocking Heartless out of the way as they ran. Some were taken by Heartless, others actually managed to destroy some. Hiroshima followed closely casting spells to defend the troops and to attack the Heartless. As Spike and Hikari caught up with Jones they began to ran up the castle gates, defying gravity itself. As they reached the top, they jumped over and knocked the gates down to clear the path for the troops.  
"Jirak! You are going to die today!" Spike yelled out, in hope that Jirak would hear him, "And it will be by MY hand"  
"I hope you do, Spike." Hikari said confidently, "But don't underestimate him, he has the power of darkness as his bitch monkey"  
"He's right" Jones agreed. "He may be a Heartless, but he's right"  
"I know," Spike also agreed, "But I'm still gonna kill him"  
They ran in to the castle leading the troops, and as all the troops were finally inside the Heartless built a wall over the entrance of pure darkness.

Meanwhile, in another part of the castle…  
"It would appear, your highness, that they have foolishly fallen for our trap. As predicted." Said a hooded figure,  
"Yes. But that does not mean that we will win." A voice came from the throne in front of the hooded figure,  
The hooded figure replied, "You sound a little less confident than usual, Jirak." 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - Jail birds

The resistance were in the castle, led by Spike, Hikari and Jones. They took a moment to look around and hated what they saw. Darkness. The walls were dripping with it as Heartless formed from it and began to crawl over the walls toward the troops.  
"Get ready." Spike told them,  
"For what? These punks? Puh-lease!" Jones retorted to him,  
"Do not underestimate them, Jones." Hikari advised,  
"Yeah. I know" Jones replied,  
"Let's hurry up and get this over with." Spike commanded, "Everybody… CHARGE"  
The Resistance ran at the Heartless, swiping their swords and firing their guns at them. Spike led again, with Hikari and Jones following. Hikari was taking a more protective role over Jones now after the Heartless nearly got him, he let Jones do his own thing but he watched his back for him.  
"You remember what to do right Hikari?" Spike asked,  
"Yeah. I'll find it." Hikari answered,  
"Good. Thanks." Spike replied warmly, he and Hikari had grown to become close friends, despite the fact that Hikari was a Heartless, his sworn enemy. They had some kind of connection, they could help each other and clearly recognised this which grew into a strong friendship, though Spike would never admit it. He could never admit it. He was the wielder of the Keyblade, the one chosen to fight against the Heartless, how would anybody ever be able to accept his friendship with one, even Hiroshima wouldn't accept it and he had taught Hikari about what he was and how he could help in the fight against the Heartless. Sometimes Spike thought that Jones was right, "A Heartless is a Heartless, no matter if they have light in them or whatever." but then he remembered how much Hikari had helped him and realised that Hikari was one of the good guys, one of the ones worth something. Spike stopped to watch Hikari, he fought with valour and with pride. Spike could also see that Hikari was fighting for something, but didn't know what that something was. Was it to end the Heartless' reign on this world? Was it to gain some form of redemption? Or was it for some other reason that Spike didn't know about? Spike couldn't be sure, but he thought it was for all those reasons. It sometimes baffled him how Hikari could fight against his own kind, no matter what the cause, but then he remembered that he was here not only to fight the Heartless but also to fight Jirak. Jirak was human, just a very dark human corrupted by the darkness he used and abused. Spike had seen pictures of Jirak from before he changed, he looked so kind and gentle with his long blond hair similar to Spikes and his baby blue eyes. It was hard for Spike to believe that such a man could become the emperor of the Heartless, or "Emperor of Darkness" as Jirak called it. Spikes thoughts were cut short when a Heartless attacked him, but this one was different… similar to Drake.  
"Spike. Listen to me." Hiroshima's voice said in Spike's head, "Can you hear me"  
"Yeah", Spike answered, "What is it"  
"That is a new breed of Heartless, Spike. They have only been seen recently" Hiroshima told him,  
"And what is that of importance for?" Spike got a little bit testy, "It's still a Heartless, I still have to destroy it"  
"Yes, Spike." Hiroshima paused, "But these Heartless are much stronger, they are called 'Neo Shadows' and are thought to be a mutation of the normal Shadows that you have been fighting for all these years"  
"Maybe…" Spike replied, "But I'm still gonna tear them apart."

Hikari shot through a horde of Heartless as he tried to reach his goal, a Neo Shadow showed up.  
"Oh shit!" Hikari exclaimed, "But… how"  
Hikari shot at the Neo Shadow but it jumped to the ceiling and avoided the bullet, it jumped back to the floor and launched itself at Hikari as he continuously shot at it,  
"DIE DIE DIE"  
The Neo Shadow kicked Hikari's face and he went flying into a wall, the Neo Shadow landed on the ground and jumped on to Hikari.  
"SHI- Wait a minute. You can't hurt me!" Hikari realised, "MOFO"  
He punched the Neo Shadow off him and it bumped into Jones who turned around and put his sword through it. The Neo Shadow disappeared.  
"Jones? You helped me?" Hikari asked surprised,  
"Yeah, but don't expect it again. Got it?" Jones replied,  
"Okay Jones. I won't" Hikari said. Hikari stood back up and that's when he saw it, his goal; the Spiral staircase. He was at the top of it so it led down.  
"Spike! I've found it!" Hikari shouted as he looked for Spike, "Spike? Where are you?"

The Neo Shadow Spike was facing had called another 4 Neo Shadows, they all surrounded him as he held his Keyblade at his side.  
"Hehe" Spike laughed, "Don't you know who I am"  
Spike jumped high and the Neo Shadow's followed, one reached him from behind and was about to strike but Spike turned around and sliced it in half.  
"1-0"  
Spike flipped over and held his Keyblade out, destroying another Neo Shadow as he did so.  
"2-0"  
As Spike landed he placed his Keyblade beneath one of the Neo Shadows as it fell back to the ground, tearing it apart.  
"3-0"  
As one of the remaining two Neo Shadows fell to the floor Spike spun around and threw his Keyblade at it like a boomerang, the Neo Shadow dodged the Keyblade but as it flew back to Spike it destroyed the Neo Shadow.  
"4-0"  
The last Neo Shadow jumped at Spike as the Keyblade was returning, Spike ducked and the Neo Shadow landed behind him just as the Keyblade had returned, this sliced the Neo Shadow in two as Spike back flipped and caught the Keyblade.  
"5-0" Spike laughed, "Looks like I won again"  
"Spike!" Hikari shouted, "There you are"  
"What's up Hikari?" Spike asked,  
"I've found it, the spiral staircase!" Hikari answered, "We were right all along"  
"Okay. Good! Let's go down there." Spike replied,  
"What about Jones?" Hikari asked,  
"He'll lead things up here" Spike answered, "Now let's go"  
Spike and Hikari ran to the spiral staircase and looked down, "Long way, we'll have to jump it." Spike said as he jumped over the railings,  
"Oh… bloody hell" Hikari said, "How does he always drag me in to these things?" Hikari jumped from the railings and followed Spike. Several Heartless followed too and Spike and Hikari were forced to fight them off on the way down. As they reached the bottom Spike landed on his feet and Hikari went into the ground and came back up, one of the Heartless skills he found useful.  
"Where is it?" Hikari asked,  
"There!" Spike pointed, "Let's go." Spike and Hikari ran through a little gap in the stone wall leading in to a tunnel which appeared to lead on forever.  
"Jesus H. Christ!" Hikari exclaimed, "How the-? Spike, what are you doing"  
Spike had already began to run through the tunnel, running on the walls for extra speed.  
"Oh for f- Grrrrrr…." Hikari mumbled as he began to run.  
Spike couldn't help but notice the lack of Heartless trying to attack them, he thought it could be a trap but he had to continue through the tunnel.  
After a long, LONG time they had reached the end of the tunnel and came to a huge room beneath the castle.  
"So we were right." Spike said,  
"Yeah…" Hikari answered.  
Spike lifted his walkie talkie to his mouth and said "Jones, send some troops down the Spiral staircase. We need some good men"  
"Sure but… what's going on down there?" Jones asked,  
"We have something of a… situation" Spike replied,  
The room was huge, it must have been over 1000 kilometres in both length and width.  
"A very bad situation"  
Scattered all over the walls were cages with girls in, they were aged anywhere between 12 and 23.  
"But they can handle it." 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 - Hero

Hundreds of troops were running through the tunnel to the jail, led by Jones and Hiroshima.  
"Jones, is everything okay?" Spikes voice came out of Jones' walkie talkie.  
"Everything's fine here." Jones said through the walkie talkie "Everything okay there"  
"As okay as it can be, it's a huge prison. There must be over five hundred girls in cages." Spike answered, "Which is why we need your help. There's probably a trap around somewhere, and some of us are gonna have to make it out of here to get these girls out"  
Jones replied "Right, I'll let you know if I see anything un"  
There was a slight pause, Spike became full of worry quickly.  
"Unusual?" Spike asked.  
"Very." Jones said as he looked ahead of him and his troops. A huge amount of Heartless had appeared, there were all kinds of them from Shadows to Behemoths. "We can handle it though"  
Jones turned around and looked behind his troops, he saw an equally large number of Heartless as he had seen in front of him.  
"Troops… ATTACK"  
Hiroshima began to cast a spell, "Hold them off, I can get rid of most of them. It will take a while, though"  
Jones shouted to the back of his group of troops "Pedro, you're in charge of the troops at the back"  
"Yes sir." Pedro shouted back.  
"Troops at the front, follow me." Jones shouted as he ran at the Heartless, swinging his sword at any he could get close enough to without being taken by them as Pedro led the other group against the Heartless that came from behind them. Jones and Pedro each led their troops valiantly, many were taken by the Heartless before they could get a strike in but many more were able to eliminate some of the Heartless, difficulty but nevertheless they got the job done.  
"Smith, Niles and Frederick, help me take out this Behemoth." Jones shouted as he ran at the huge Behemoth in front of him. Smith, Niles and Frederick all ran with him. Niles jumped at the Behemoth as Jones slid under it, swiping his sword through it as he went. Smith and Frederick stood further back and shot the Behemoth with their anti-Heartless missile launchers. As the Behemoth went down from Jones' attack, Niles got onto the Behemoth's back and sliced its horn, removing some of its strength.  
Pedro and his troops were also fighting the Behemoth on their side, some of them were shooting it with whatever gun they had, some of which were bazookas and some were missile launchers whilst the rest of them were attacking with their swords. The Behemoth got one of the troops who then became a Heartless, Pedro destroyed it straight away before jumping on to the Behemoth's back and beginning to attack its horn. One of the missile launcher troops shot a missile at the horn, which combined with Pedro's attacks tore the horn from the Behemoth's head. The Behemoth got angry and rampaged through the troops, taking hearts every where.  
"Hey Behemoth, ese." Pedro shouted.  
The Behemoth turned to Pedro.  
"How about you come after me, eh?" Pedro said cockily.  
The Behemoth threw its claw at Pedro to take his heart but Pedro lifted his sword and slid to his right and sliced the Behemoth's claw clean off. He turned around and lifted his sword through the Behemoth's head, releasing the heart and eliminating it.  
"Job done, I believe"  
Jones, Niles, Smith and Frederick were still fighting the Behemoth on their end though. The Behemoth lunged at Frederick, who then became a Heartless and when Niles tried to kill it, he was also turned into one of them. Jones killed both and then went back to the Behemoth and unexpectedly got the Behemoths claw through him, taking his Heart and turning him in to a heartless before Smith fired a missile at the Behemoth's head, destroying it.  
"Jones!" Smith yelled.  
"It's not him now, Smith." Came a voice from behind, Smith turned around and saw Pedro approaching. "And he wouldn't want this thing to exist in his place"  
Pedro span around and cut the heartless Jones' head off and slicing its body down, releasing it's heart.  
"He'd never forgive us if we had let his Heartless carry on to exist." Pedro said, "Maybe now he'll be with his wife and daughter." he said as they watched Jones' heart go up.  
They continued to fight the Heartless, waiting for Hiroshima's spell to be ready. After what felt like forever but was in fact little more than five minutes, Hiroshima called out "It's ready. Everyone start running forward so we don't get caught by more"  
The troops began to run through the tunnel as Hiroshima began to chant some words, which was followed by an enormous amount of light energy come from Hiroshima's body, the light tore through every Heartless in the tunnel and created a defence against any Heartless that tried to go to the area in the next 3 or 4 minutes.

Back in Jirak's throne room, he and the hooded man were watching the events through a ball of liquid floating in the centre of the room. Jirak stroked his pitch black beard, almost as if he was tearing the hairs from it.  
"It would appear that the first trap has not worked, Emperor." The hooded man said.  
"Yes, thank you for pointing out what I see right in front of me." Jirak replied with a hint of sarcasm, "Don't worry though, the next two traps will stop them for sure"  
"Oh. What are these two traps then?" The hooded man asked without any sign of enthusiasm.  
Jirak replied "Wait and watch, hood boy. Wait and watch"

The troops had made it to the prison room where they met up with Spike and Hikari.  
"Where's Jones?" Spike asked the troops.  
"He was taken, sir. He put me in charge." Pedro stepped forward, "I hope I can do his job as well as he did"  
There was a short moment of silence, Spike and Hikari remembered the times they had shared with Jones. Hikari was upset, now he would never be able to see if Jones could ever accept him.  
Spike looked at the large amount of troops that had made it and said. "We've got a job to do now"  
"If any of you don't wanna end up as Heartless at the end of this, turn around, go back through that tunnel and get on the airship, 'cause chances are that's the only way you'll be leaving as you are now and not as a Heartless. Chances are also that you won't make it back through that tunnel though, so make your choice and make it wisely. Me, I'm getting these girls out of here. Anybody else"  
All of the troops raised their hands in support.  
"That's what I was hoping for. Now, everybody unlock any of the prison cells that you can"  
Spike turned to Hikari and said "You know what to do"  
Hikari nodded.  
The troops ran to the prison cells, busting the doors open and freeing the girls in them. There were far more girls than troops though, so they had to bust open several doors each. Hikari went to the north wall of the prison, he took a device from his bag and hooked it in to the wall and waited.  
"Are all the girls freed?" Spike asked, looking at the prison cells.  
"Yeah. Unless there's another room of them somewhere." Pedro answered.  
"Hikari, turn it on" Spike called out to Hikari at the north wall who turned around to the device and pushed a hand shaped button.  
"Everybody, stand back." Spike said.  
"You better hope this works." Hiroshima spoke quietly in to Spike's ear.  
Spike replied, "It will"  
Hikari ran back to the area Spike and the troops were in, when he got there the device he had used blew up, taking a huge chunk out of the wall."

"I thought you said there were two more traps?" The hooded man said to Jirak, "But it looks like they're already escaping. Need me to go and… interfere"  
"No." Jirak replied, "Everything is going to plan."

The smoke cleared and the dust settled, Spike, Hikari and Hiroshima walked over to the wall that had been blew up.  
"Damn…" Spike said, "Should have known"  
The hole in the wall was filled with darkness in the form of a liquid, there was no way out.  
"Just go through it" One of the troops said, "It won't hurt you"  
The troop walked to the pool of darkness and put his hand in.  
"NO! Wait!" Spike shouted, but it was too late. The troop was sucked in to the darkness and spat back out as a heartless.  
"Dammit." Hikari said, watching Spike cut the heartless in half with his Keyblade. "I guess we'll have to go back through the tunnel"  
"Or not." Hiroshima's voice could be heard, everyone turned around and saw the tunnel, full of the same darkness liquid that was in the hole in the wall.  
A look of worry appeared on Spike's face.  
"Damn…" 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 - Sacrifice

"There's no way out." Hikari pointed out,  
"You don't say." Spike replied, the look of worry on his face increasing.  
"Hey, can't we just blow it up?" Pedro asked.  
They looked around at each other, thinking about the idea for a moment. Hikari's eyes met with Spike's as he gave his Heartless friend a nod. Hikari picked up the missile launcher at his feet as the rest of the army and the girls moved to the other side of the giant room, he put it on his shoulders and aimed at the wall of darkness in the part of the wall they had blown through to make their escape. He hit the button.

"I wonder, do they really think that will work?" The Hooded Man said to Jirak,  
"If they do, they are stupider than I had thought." Jirak replied as they watch the explosion from Hikari's blast at the wall. The smoke cleared and the wall of darkness was still there, as intact as it was before.  
"Or maybe they're a little too hopeful." The Hooded Man said.

"Dammit" Spike yelled as he saw the wall of darkness was still there, "We're trapped"  
"He's right, man." Pedro said to Hikari, "There's no way out"  
"Why don't we send the Heartless through? It won't have an effect on him, right?" One of the troops said, the Heartless he spoke about meaning Hikari.  
Hikari looked over at Spike, "That might work, shall we try?" Hikari asked,  
"No," Spike replied firmly, "It might get rid of the light inside you, I don't wanna take that chance"  
Hikari looked at Spike questioningly, as if asking why it would matter if he went evil as Spike could just kill him.  
"You've been with me since the beginning, I'm not losing anyone for no good reason." Spike said to Hikari, confirming his confidence in him.  
Hikari was taken back by Spike's comment, but gradually understood. "Alright then." Hikari said.  
The troops began to talk among themselves, getting rowdy…  
"What do we do now"  
"Where do we go"  
"There's gotta be a way"  
"Let's try this"  
"That won't work"  
"That's too dangerous"  
Spike watched as the troops argued over which was the best course of action, then noticed Hiroshima standing still with his eyes closed and his hands in front of him.  
"What are you doing Hiroshima?" Spike asked.  
No answer.  
"Hiroshima? What's going on?" Spike asked.  
"Move." Hiroshima shouted to everyone, "Get out of my way"  
Hiroshima's body began to glow, starting at his heart and spreading throughout his body with immense light. The troops ran out of the way of Hiroshima quickly, fearful that he had gone insane. All but Spike.  
"Are you okay?" Spike asked, "Hiroshima"  
"I can't come. I end here." Hiroshima replied.  
"What do you mean?" Spike asked looking worried.  
"I won't be able to come with you from here." Hiroshima added, "But don't worry, you're strong enough now. You have Hikari too"  
"What do you mean?" Spike asked.  
"You'll know shortly." Hiroshima replied.  
The light from Hiroshima was blinding, the troops had to close their eyes. He moved his hands up slightly and formed a square with them, light poured from his heart into the square he had made with his hands.  
"What is that?" Spike asked, more to himself than to Hiroshima.  
Hiroshima smiled at Spike as the light shot from the square and pushing Spike back, the light went through the wall of darkness and pushed Spike out through the other side.  
"What are you doing?" Hikari shouted at Hiroshima.  
"Step in to the light if you want to make it out of here." Hiroshima said.  
The troops and the girls were sucked in to the light, it pushed them through the wall of darkness and to the other side where they joined Spike.  
"Spike… are you okay?" Hikari asked.  
"I'm fine." Spike answered.  
Hiroshima stopped pushing the light through, it used a lot of energy from him to do so, so much that he fell to the floor.

"I hadn't counted on that old man to be so… resourceful." Jirak said coldly.  
"Look's like you underestimated them." The hooded man said.  
Jirak lifted his hand and extended his finger, pointing to the image of Hiroshima. A burst of darkness appeared at the tip of his finger and flew away quickly.  
"I don't like that old man" Jirak said.

Hiroshima stood up slowly, still out of energy. He looked up to the roof of the room, realising this would be his home for a while.  
"Could be worse." Hiroshima said to himself.  
The walls began to crack quickly, parts of it falling off. It all disintegrated so quickly that Hiroshima didn't have time to realise what was going on. The walls fell down revealing a giant blanket of darkness. Heartless began to form from the darkness and crept down towards Hiroshima as he made two blades made of light appear in his hands, ready to fight off this army of Heartless.

"What do you think will happen to him?" Hikari asked, "Will he get out somehow"  
"I think it's too late for that." Spike answered, "All we can do now is make his sacrifice mean something"  
"Hey, wouldn't this be a good time to get out of here?" Pedro asked, pointing at the girls they had just saved.  
"Yeah, let's go" Spike said and began to run down the large corridor.  
Heartless began to appear from the walls, the troops tried to kill them while protecting the girls.  
"I'm not sure we can do this." said Pedro.  
"Sure we can." Spike replied, "I have a plan, just keep running"  
"Good plan." Pedro replied.  
The troops ran, taking out Heartless as they went. Several troops were taken by the Heartless and had to be disposed of.  
"We're here." Spike said, "The last trap."

"He knows?" Jirak yelled.

Spike took a missile launcher from Hikari and shot down the corridor, a blanket of darkness came from the walls and it disappeared.

"NO! He knew!" Jirak shouted, "That was the last trap"  
The hooded man chuckled.

"Come on." Spike said, "Let's go"  
The troops made it out of the castle with all the girls, they ran back to the airship led by Spike.  
"Pedro, come here." Spike said and whispered something into his ear.  
"You sure?" Well… okay." Pedro said, "I'm flying troops"  
Spike helped everyone on to the airship quickly, as if expecting an attack.  
"Is there anybody left?" Spike asked.  
"Nope, we got everybody on that made it." Hikari replied.  
"Good, now get on." Spike said.  
Hikari jumped on to the airship quickly and held out his hand to Spike.  
"Come on bro." Hikari said.  
Spike put his hand out to Hikari, as the airship began to take flight.  
He waved goodbye. 


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 - Fight the good fight

"What are you doing?" Hikari shouted at Spike from the airship.  
"I'm the only one that can do this." Spike shouted back.  
"Not without me you don't." Hikari shouted as he stood on the side of the airship.  
"What?" Spike shouted as he watched Hikari jump from the airship back down to the castle runway. Hikari landed on his feet and looked at Spike sternly, "I'm sticking with you, Spike, you can't just send me back without fighting the last fight by your side"  
"I didn't want you to die. You have a chance." Spike said to Hikari.  
"A chance at what?" Hikari asked.  
"A chance to live a good life, if that light in you gets strong enough I have the confidence in you to become human again." Spike answered, "And if I die here, who else will be able to fight the good fight"  
"You won't die, I'm here to make sure of that." Hikari said firmly.  
"What do you mean?" Spike asked.  
Before Hikari could answer, Heartless began to make their way down the runway with intent to attack the two.  
"We'll continue this later." Spike said as he ran at the Heartless with Hikari.  
Spike cut his way through the Heartless in his way as Hikari shot them away from him, both were extremely tired from the days battles but their determination kept them fighting.  
"Hey Spike, you in position yet?" Pedro's voice came from Spike's walkie talkie.  
Spike took the walkie talkie from his belt and held it to his mouth, "Not yet"  
Hikari wondered what Spike and Pedro had planned, but did not ask. The Heartless flooding from the castle kept him too busy to ask anything.

"What are they planning?" Jirak asked himself.  
"You just better make sure whatever it is they're planning doesn't work." The hooded man said.  
Jirak stood up from his chair, "Are you giving me orders now"  
The Hooded Man look at Jirak, "Advice, Jirak. Advice."

Spike had made it to the gates of the castle for the second time in the day, he lifted his walkie talkie to his mouth.  
"Now!" Spike shouted as he started to run up the gate. The airship came back from behind Spike, as it came above him he jumped and caught one of the ropes of the airship and noticed Hikari was also there. They exchanged nods as the airship flew towards the castle's large window.

"I guess I really did underestimate them." Jirak said to the Hooded Man.  
"Yes, it would appear so." The Hooded Man said as the window smashed and Spike and Hikari landed in the throne room with Jirak and the Hooded Man.  
"Jirak." Spike said.  
"Spike." Jirak said.  
"Hikari." The Hooded Man said.  
"… Hooded Man?" Hikari asked.  
The Hooded Man took a few steps back in to the shade, getting ready to watch the inevitable fight that was about to take place.  
"Spike, Spike, Spike." Jirak repeated as he walked up and down the room before Spike. "How fitting that you should be here to attempt to kill me"  
Spike kept his glance on Jirak firm.  
"Why wouldn't you? Your father died trying to kill me, then several years later your mother and grandfather were killed by the Heartless that I summoned into this world." Jirak said and stopped walking and turned toward Spike. "Your slaying of me would be a perfect end to my tale… Too perfect, which is why it won't happen"  
A huge sword made of darkness appeared in Jirak's hand.  
"You thought you could come here and kill me?" Jirak asked cockily, "I can't be killed. I am darkness. Darkness is forever"  
Spike looked at Jirak and raised his head, "Then I'm guessing forever isn't too long"  
Spike jumped at Jirak with his Keyblade raised and thrust the Keyblade at him, Jirak blocked it with his sword and kicked Spike but Spike blocked it with his free hand. They were locked together, neither could make an attack without the other blocking and taking full advantage of it. Hikari raised his guns at Jirak.  
"No." Spike said, "Hikari, this one's my fight"  
Spike and Jirak jumped back away from each other and held their weapons in front of them, ready for another shot at each other. Jirak took the shot first and swiped his sword at Spike who jumped to his left and took a swipe with is Keyblade, Jirak was too quick and blocked it with his sword. They took swipe after swipe at each other but each was blocked and neither managed to take the advantage. Jirak went for another kick which again was blocked by Spike's hand. They had locked each other again.  
"This is fun." Jirak said coldly.  
"How about we get serious now?" Spike asked.  
"Fine by me, the sooner I kill you the sooner I can take over a few more places." Jirak said.  
"But you've taken the whole world." Spike said confused.  
"This world… Yeah." Jirak confirmed.  
"What's that suppose to mean?" Spike asked.  
"This chat is boring me, let's get back to the fight." Jirak said, lifting his blade and taking another swipe while he had Spike off guard, but Spike managed to block it again and kicked Jirak in his stomach.  
Jirak ran back at Spike with his sword lifted above his head and brought it down in front of Spike as Spike took a swipe which Jirak blocked by lifting his sword and pushing Spike's Keyblade out of the way giving Jirak an easy shot, which he took and kicked Spike in his ribs. Spike dropped his Keyblade and grabbed his ribs, falling to the floor "What? Is that it?" Jirak asked, sounding disappointed. "Well I guess I'll have a bit more fun then"  
Jirak put his sword in to the ground and started to kick Spike in the ribs. Each kick became more painful for Spike as he felt his ribs breaking beneath his skin.  
"You thought you could kill me? The Emperor of Darkness. You fool!" Jirak said, mocking Spike.  
The kicks continued as Spike began to cough up blood.  
"You're weak. Know why?" Jirak asked, "Because you spend all your time fighting for the light. If you were on the side of darkness, using it to your benefit, you might become quite a good fighter"  
Spike took more of the kicks as the blood from his mouth spread out in front of him.  
"You wouldn't even need to do most of the fighting yourself, you could just use the Heartless to do most of it for you." Jirak continued, "But no, you choose to be all good and noble just because your daddy got killed by me and your mummy and grandpa got killed by the Heartless. You need to grow up, kid, and accept the darkness in to your heart"  
Jirak stopped kicking Spike, a look of relief came over Spike's face as he looked up.  
"Tell you what, Spiky boy. I'll give you one more chance. You can either accept the darkness in to your heart…" Jirak pulled his sword out of the ground and pointed it in Spike's face. "Or you can accept my sword in to your heart"  
Spike looked up at Jirak and grinned. "I would never accept the darkness, I'd rather do unmentionable things to your fat greasy mother"  
"Shame," Jirak said. He kicked Spike one last time, lifting his body up and as it fell back down it faced the floor.  
"You could have been great." Jirak said as he moved to Spike's head, he lifted his sword up and took one last swipe at Spike.  
There was a huge colliding sound as Jirak's huge sword was blocked by Spike's Keyblade. Spike was still facing the ground but managed to get the strength to block Jirak's sword.  
"You still have some kick left in you, eh? Well I guess that could be-" Jirak's speech was cut short by a loud gun shot. Spike looked up and saw Jirak with a huge gaping hole through his head.  
Spike looked over at Hikari, angry that he had killed Jirak instead of letting Spike do it, but Hikari was not holding his guns. Hikari was staring in amazement at the other side of the room.  
"What? Why?" Hikari stuttered, "How"  
Spike looked at the other side of the room where Hikari's eyes were firmly locked, he saw the Hooded Man with a huge gun in his hand. Smoke was pouring out of the gun. He had shot Jirak.  
"He spoke too much." The Hooded Man said.  
"A villain should be less about the chat, and more about the butchering of innocents." The Hooded Man continued, "Don't you agree"  
He took his hood off, revealing a face scarred from battle. The man had long blond hair similar to Spike's, his eyes were as black as coal.  
"…son?" 


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 - Prodigal

Spike looked at his father's face, his eyes were different to how Spike had remembered them.  
"Dad?" Spike said quietly, "But you're dead"  
"Yes, I am." He replied, "But that does not mean I do not exist any more"  
"Spike," Hikari said, "This isn't your father, I've heard about"  
Hikari was cut short in his speech by a ball of darkness thrown by the man, pushing Hikari to the floor.  
"You trust a Heartless now, son?" The man with his father's face said, "After everything they did to this place"  
"He's different. He has light in him." Spike said, looking at his fathers laughing face.  
"You think that truly makes any difference?" His father's voice said, "A Heartless is a Heartless, they're all the same, they just take all our hearts and turn us in to one of them"  
Spike was silent for a while, thinking about the words his father's voice had just told him.  
"You know it deep down." His father said, "Now… you know what must be done"  
His father moved towards Spike, he put his hand on his should and whispered in his ear "Kill him"  
Spike's eyes moved toward Hikari, still laying on the floor from the ball that Spike's father had thrown at him.  
"It's not him, Spike." Hikari muttered, watching Spike pick up his Keyblade and approach him. Spike lifted his Keyblade up, pointing down at Hikari, ready to plunge it into him. Spike pushed the Keyblade down at Hikari who rolled out of the way and kicked Spike to the floor.  
"You bastard, you tricked him." Hikari said to Spike's father, "You'll pay"  
"And how exactly are you going to do that?" Spike's father said as Hikari drew his pistols, "With that"  
"No," Hikari said, moving his glance to Spike on the floor, "With that"  
Hikari began shooting at Spike's father, he shot the zipper on his jacket, pushing it down and showing his body. It was complete darkness.  
"See, Spike. This isn't your father." Hikari said, "It's a Heartless"  
Spike looked in confusion at the man with his father's face, then at Hikari as if looking for forgiveness.  
Hikari nodded at Spike and said, "Or rather, he's THE Heartless"  
"What do you mean?" Spike asked, confused.  
"This is the original Heartless, the original darkness, Belmin." Hikari said, "He can take the form of any person who has been taken by the darkness"  
"Look's like I have a fan club." Belmin said, morphing his face in to it's original shape. His face was now more Heartless-like, it had huge yellow eyes and large antennae, but also had some human features like jaw bones and a nose.  
"Not exactly." Hikari said, putting his guns to his side.  
"I was getting bored of the pretending anyway," Belmin said, zipping his jacket up "I think I'll kill both of you now"  
Spike stood up, Keyblade in hand.  
Belmin continued as Spike leapt at him "Just like I killed your father."

"Whew, that was wild." Pedro said, "Let's hope they can find a way back. I'm outta here"  
"You sure about that?" His lieutenant said, pointing out of the cockpit window.  
There were three airships in their path, made of complete darkness. They were some deformed kind of Heartless as could be seen from the yellow eyes on the sides and at the front of the airships.  
"Well, maybe we could hang around for a while." Pedro said worriedly.  
Pedro gave himself a large boost of confidence, "Screw it! FIRRRRE!" He shouted commands at the troops.

Hikari watched the airships fight as Spike and Belmin fought.  
"I hope they make it out of here." He said to himself, before jumping in to the fight with Belmin.  
Belmin threw a punch at Spike who ducked out of it's way before swiping at Belmin with his Keyblade, but Belmin blocked it with his hand and hit Spike in the face, knocking him back. Hikari hit Belmin in retaliation but it barely affected him and he threw Hikari down to the floor as Spike stood up and charged with his Keyblade again. Spike jumped at Belmin as he tried to take his feet out and swung his Keyblade at him, Belmin rolled out of the way and threw a punch at Spike which was blocked by the Keyblade and Spike punched Belmin in the face, knocking him back.  
"Not too bad." Belmin said, "Not too bad at all"  
Belmin put his hood back up.

"FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!" Pedro shouted, watching the missiles leave his airship and fly at the Heartless.  
"Everyone, pick up a missile launcher," Pedro said while pushing some buttons in the cockpit, making the giant window open. "And shoot like crazy"  
The troops who were not using the airships missile launchers picked up the hand held missile launchers, all at once they began firing their missile at the Heartless ships.  
"We can't lose now!" Pedro shouted.  
The Heartless ships began to fire back at them with missiles made of darkness, taking small numbers of the troops with almost every other shot, but they could not keep up with the Resistance Airship.  
A missile left the airship and flew at one of the Heartless ships, it tore it in half completely destroying the right half of it.  
"That's the way, ese!" Pedro shouted.

Belmin put his hand out to his side and a flash of darkness began spreading from his palm and forming in to a giant sword.  
"What's that supposed to do?" Spike asked, "Scare us"  
Hikari started to shoot at Belmin from a distance as Spike and Belmin fought with their weapons, neither of them managing to get an open shot at the other. The bullets were bouncing back off from Belmin and hitting the floor.  
"This is no good." Hikari said, "What else do I have"  
Hikari looked around the room, trying to find some kind of weapon that would do more damage.  
"Oh, right!" Hikari said, remembering what he had bought with him, "Where'd that go"  
Hikari looked around, then noticed it on the other side of the room.  
"There it is!" Hikari said to himself. He ran over to it and picked up the missile launcher.  
"Hey, Smell-min." Hikari shouted, "Catch"  
Hikari pushed the button and watched as the missile collided with Belmin's face, pushing him through the air.  
The dust settled and Spike looked for Belmin, "Where is he"  
Belmin put his sword through Spike's chest.

"That makes two!" Pedro said as the second Heartless ship was torn in half.  
"Uh oh, look here Pedro." His Lieutenant said, looking at the ground beneath them.  
Dark pools were appearing and masses of Heartless were creeping out, forming more Heartless ships.  
"FIRE!" Pedro shouted, the troops began to fire at the dark pools but could not stop the ships coming through. The ships flew up in to the air and were melting together, after a few hundred ships joined up, Pedro saw what they were forming.  
"Holy crap!" Pedro said to himself, looking at the giant Heartless dragon in front of them.

Spike fell to the floor as Hikari ran at Belmin, who threw him against the wall knocking him out.  
"Spike?" Spike heard a voice, "Can you hear me"  
"Yes, who's that?" Spike asked.  
"It's Hiroshima, I don't have long before the Heartless will take me so I must make this quick. I can send my power to you, where you are now. It might be enough to take care of Belmin, but if it's not… you know what to do"  
"Will you be okay?" Spike asked.  
"No." Hiroshima said as his power went in to Spike.  
A blinding flash of light filled the room, as Hikari looked up he saw Spike standing back up, Keyblade in hand with wings of light coming from his back.  
Spike looked at Belmin, his eyes now full of light "Let's finish this."

The dragon took another of the Resistance Airships missile launchers.  
"That's three missiles and a wing now." Pedro said, watching the dragon open it's mouth to do another shot of darkness balls.  
"I know!" Pedro said as he moved the last missile launcher up with his control pad, "Have some of this, bitch"  
Pedro pushed the button and a huge missile left the airship and went through the dragons mouth, it flew in to it's stomach before blowing up, disintegrating the dragon.  
"Alright! I'm the man!" 


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 - Renouncement

"Did you fall off the cow again? Are you hurt?" The old man said.  
"No grandpa, I'm fine." A much younger Spike said softly to his grandfather, "I wanna ride again"  
The door to the house flew open as a frightened woman ran out of the door.  
"Spiky, Spiky, are you okay?" She said to Spike.  
"Yeah, mom. I'm fine." Spike grinned cheekily. His mother picked him up and ran to the house.  
"This cut doesn't look fine, let's get this bandaged up." His mother said to him.  
Spike said impatiently "But I wanna get back on the cow"  
"Ya know, I can say one thing truthfully about this kid." His grandfather said to his mother.  
"What's that, dad?" She asked.  
"This kid never gives up."

Spike threw his Keyblade at Belmin, it span round like a boomerang and after Belmin had jumped out of its way, it began to return to Spike.  
"You think now that you have silly wings and funny coloured eyes that you can pull off overconfident tricks like that?" Belmin chuckled, "It seems you have not gained knowledge with those wings"  
Spike just stared at him and pointed behind Belmin. Belmin turned around just in time to see the Keyblade coming at his head, giving him the time to duck out of the way as it returned to Spike.  
"It appears I am underestimating you." Belmin said sternly, "We'll have to fix that"  
Belmin jumped at Spike with his dark blade held high, as he brought it down Spike did not move. A ray of light appeared in front of him, knocking the dark blade out of the way.  
"What was that?" Belmin asked out of shock.  
Spike did not reply to his question, he just stared in to the eyes of his enemy.  
"You are quite the silent type, eh?" Belmin mocked Spike, "Looks like it's time for me to get serious"  
Belmin grabbed his stomach in pain, he fell to the floor as his body was pulsating. Bubbles of darkness appeared on his long black coat and burst rapidly as he shook from the pain. Two stumps began to grow out of his back, they grew bigger until they reached the same size as his body. They rolled open to reveal a pair of wings made of darkness.  
Belmin looked up at Spike, whose expression had not changed, "I can pull off those tricks too, human."

"Grab the chickens, Spike." Spike's grandfather said, watching Spike run around in the chicken pen.  
"They're too fast, grandpa!" The younger Spike said in his usual soft voice.  
Spike ran at the chicken and dived at it, missing it by only an inch.  
"Oh, I get my face all muddy!" Spike moaned.  
"Dad, what are you doing?" Spike's mother appeared at his grandfathers side.  
"The boy says he wants to be a fighter, just like his father." His grandfather explained.  
"Which is why he's running around after chickens?" She asked.  
"It's the same way I trained his father." He told her, "I'm just repeating the course for a new generation"  
"His dad never told me about running around after chickens." She said to her father.  
"Well we only tried it once. He wasn't quite fast enough so we postponed it till later on, but then he joined up with the Resistance." He told her.  
"So maybe if he was a little faster…" She began.  
"…Maybe." Her father said to her.

Spike jumped at Belmin, who jumped high out of the way and clung on to ceiling of the room. Belmin put his hands in the ceiling and dropped his legs, kicking Spike in the back of the head. Spike turned around and pulled Belmin down by the legs, he kicked him in the chest to push him toward the window. Spike ran at Belmin who grabbed Spike and threw him over his head, out of the window.  
"Spike!" Hikari shouted, running towards the window.  
Spike flew up with his enormous wings, waiting for Belmin to join him in the open air.  
"I'm okay Hikari." Spike pointed behind him, "Wings"  
"Oh, right." Hikari said, embarrassed that he had been fearful for Spike's life.  
Belmin jumped up and hovered in mid air, then flew out side to Spike and grabbed him, pushing him down toward the ground.  
"I'm going to crush you." Belmin said angrily, not too far from the ground.  
"I doubt that." Spike said before grabbing hold of Belmin's arm and swinging him below, causing him to thud against the ground beneath.  
"Damn you." Belmin said while making a dark pool to go in to, "Come and find me"  
Spike turned around and flew behind the castle as Belmin came out of another dark pool.  
"Found you." Spike said as he kicked Belmin's head, knocking him out of the pool.  
Belmin deflected from the wall and jumped back at Spike, sword held high as he took a swipe at him. Spike jumped, then ducked out of the way of the two swipes Belmin made with his sword.  
"You're slow." Spike said, mocking Belmin. Spike pulled out his Keyblade and started to throw attacks at Belmin. Each of them blocked the others attacks and as the weapons clashed, there was a flash of both light and darkness radiating from the weapons. It was clash after clash, continuously for a long time, until finally Belmin took the advantage and kicked Spike in the face.  
"Dammit." Spike said as he hit the floor, "Should have seen that coming"  
Spike jumped back off the floor and in to the air with his Keyblade, he got sight of Belmin and flew at him again.  
Belmin defended against Spike's attacks, trying to wear him out before making his final attack. Spike pushed his Keyblade toward Belmin's face, but he caught it and Spike span around and hit Belmin with the back of his hand, knocking him back. Belmin went back at Spike, his sword going for Spike's heart but Spike kicked it out of the way and hit Belmin in the face again. Belmin jumped back at Spike with his sword but missed him, Spike turned around and hit him in the face again.  
Belmin paused, "You're toying with me, aren't you"  
Spike kept his stern expression, then grinned.

"Go on Spiky!" His mother shouted in support.  
"Come on, you can do better than that." His grandfather taunted him.  
Spike and his grandfather had been sparring with their practise swords for no shorter than ten minutes now.  
"But you're better than me grandpa!" Spike moaned.  
"Only because you think that." His grandfather said as Spike took another swing at him, he hopped out of the way and tapped Spike on the back of the head with his wooden sword.  
"That's enough for today, I think." His grandfather said.  
"I'll cook the dinner." Spike's mother said.  
"That's great, what are-" Spike's grandfather paused, he looked at the sunset.  
The Heartless were coming.

Spike kicked Belmin in the stomach, pushing him back in to the throne room.  
"How long have you been holding back?" Belmin asked with a smile.  
Spike did not answer, he just walked toward Belmin with his Keyblade by his side. Belmin kicked Spike back and stood up, with a dark ball in his hand.  
"This ball can turn anything in to darkness, it completely eradicates any light." Belmin said, he turned toward Hikari and threw it. Hikari closed his eyes as the ball got closer. Spike threw a ball of light at the dark ball, making it disappear.  
Spike ran at Belmin and kicked him to the ground, he removed Belmin's hood and held his Keyblade up.  
"Before I kill you, answer me one question." Spike said, "Why did Jirak bring the Heartless here"  
"Fool, Jirak didn't bring us here. I did." Belmin answered, "I came here and tricked Belmin in to open the door of this world, releasing the Heartless in to it. He gained a few dark powers in the process and I got to take over the world through Jirak"  
"But why?" Spike asked, "Why did you bring them here"  
"For the energy of this world. It is a huge world, with more energy than you pathetic humans know. We're using that energy for Kingdom Hearts, even now as we speak. With that energy we will take over and destroy every world, and when we have done so we will destroy this one"  
"I guess that qualifies as an answer." Spike pushed his Keyblade in to Belmin's face, he watched as Belmin began to disappear in front of his eyes.  
"Just remember; I will always live on, in one form or another." Belmin' voice echoed as he disintegrated, leaving a large pool of darkness behind.  
"What is that?" Spike asked, looking over at Hikari.  
"A portal." Hikari answered,  
"To where?" Spike asked another question.  
Hikari looked at Spike, with a slight frown on his face. "Kingdom Hearts." 


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 - Atonement

"Kingdom Hearts? The place you told me about?" Spike asked a shocked Hikari.  
"Yes. I guess Belmin was the key to getting in." Hikari said quietly, "Although I didn't think it would be so soon"  
The two friends stared at the portal, considering what to do.  
"Do we go through?" Spike asked,  
"Maybe." Hikari answered, "I don't know if we can. I don't know if there will be any effects on us if we do"  
Spike looked at Hikari, who returned the look.  
"You might become a Heartless, Spike." Hikari warned.  
"Well, our job here is done." Spike said, "I got nothing to lose"  
Hikari let out a short chuckle, "Alright then, let's go"  
Hikari went first, he jumped through the portal and disappeared before Spike's eyes. Spike followed shortly and appeared in the middle of a long, white path.  
"I'm guessing it's at the end of the path." Hikari said from behind Spike.  
Spike turned around, "So let's get going then"  
The two began to walk along the long white path. All around them was darkness, not a light any where near them. They could feel the darkness all around them.  
"Nice place." Hikari said with a hint of sarcasm.  
"I know what you mean." Spike replied to Hikari's statement.  
"What are we meant to do here anyway?" Spike said after a while.  
"I'm not exactly sure." Hikari said, "But after what Belmin said, maybe there's a way of stopping the Heartless in this place"  
"So we get to be heroes then?" Spike asked comically.  
Hikari looked at Spike, "You're already a hero"  
Spike's walkie talkie began to make weird noises, they sounded like fumbled speech and some interference.  
"What the hell?" Spike said as he pulled the walkie talkie from his back pocket. He put it to his mouth and started to speak.  
"Hello? Hello? Is somebody there?"

"Spike, can you hear me? It's Pedro." Pedro said from the airship, "If you can hear me, I just wanted to tell you that we made it back to the village. Are you still at that castle"  
Silence.  
"Spike? Ah, dammit." Pedro turned the walkie talkie off.  
"Couldn't get through to him?" Pedro's lieutenant asked.  
"No. Man, I hope he's okay. That guy saved all these girls." Pedro answered.  
"You played your part too, captain." His lieutenant said confidently.  
"We all did." Pedro replied.  
Pedro turned to the rest of the troops. "Alright, I can't get through to the boss man. Let's get off this ship"  
Pedro hit a few buttons and the door on the ship opened, leading to a port. The ship had landed in the water and sailed back to their village, Midgaard. There was a large crowd waiting for them to get off the ship, as they walked out they were met by a large applause from the villagers.  
"Wow, quite a reception." Pedro said shocked.  
"What do you expect? We just brought all these girls back, without us they probably would have died or something." His lieutenant said, "They think we're heroes"  
All the troops and the girls were taken off the ship and in to the village, some needed medical help because of injuries they got while fighting the Heartless. The ones that didn't make it were buried in the Holy Graveyard, a place where all who die against the Heartless are buried along with a memorial statue of Spike's father. People taken by the Heartless have memorial plates placed in the graveyard.  
"Pedro," a female voice came from behind him, "Where is Spike"  
"He went back to take out Jirak." Pedro told the girl.  
"Is he okay?" She asked.  
"I don't know, Lori." Pedro answered, "But don't worry, your man will be back"  
Lori looked down at the ground.  
Pedro looked at Lori's tears as they fell to the ground, "He's a hero."

"How much longer do we have to walk?" Spike asked, "I'm getting tired"  
"The only benefit of being a Heartless," Hikari answered, "We don't get tired"  
Spike thought for a moment, "Don't you get a strength boost too"  
"You wanna stop and have a rest?" Hikari asked Spike.  
"No, let's just keep going." Spike answered. He felt something dark nearby, approaching them, getting closer. "Maybe I should have taken that rest"  
Heartless began climbing on to the path from beneath, there were many kinds. The only one that they had seen before were the Neo Shadows. The rest of them were much larger, and much stronger than any they had seen before.  
Spike smirked, "This should be fun"  
Spike drew his Keyblade as Hikari took his twin pistols out of their holsters. They began attacking the huge army of Heartless. Spike took them out with ease with his new strength from Hiroshima, and Hikari did surprisingly well with his pistols. But the Heartless continued to come at them, as if pouring from a tap.  
"We can't carry on like this." Spike said.  
"Not really." Hikari confirmed, "How about we just run through them all"  
"Good idea." Spike replied.  
Spike ran down the path swinging his Keyblade at the random Heartless coming at him as Hikari followed, firing his pistols at the Heartless in their way.  
"Are we nearly there yet?" Spike asked,  
"I don't know." Hikari answered, "But judging by the large increase in Heartless I'd say yes"  
The numbers of Heartless had greatly increased. The white path could barely be seen beneath the blanket of Heartless that Spike and Hikari were making their way through.  
"Here it is." Spike said, looking up at the huge white door in front of them, "Hikari, what do we do now"  
"I'll have to go through. Only beings of darkness can enter that place." Hikari ran to the other side of the huge door, there was darkness all around him in this new place. More Heartless were coming, they could barely see.  
"Hikari, are you okay?" Spike shouted.  
No answer.  
"Hikari?" Spike shouted again.  
"I don't know what to do." Hikari muttered. "I came this far but now have no idea what I have to do"  
A Neo Shadow jumped at Hikari, he put his guns up in front of him and shot it apart. Just as he did this, a huge blinding flash of light came from inside Kingdom Hearts.  
"Hikari?" Spike shouted.  
The light faded in to a small ball, and Spike looked on the other side of the doors.  
"Hikari…" Spike said, looking at the tall, light brown haired man that had appeared on the other side. "You're human again"  
Hikari turned around, looking Spike with his blue eyes. "Looks like it"  
The small ball of light fell down to Hikari's newly human hand, when it reached his hand it grew out in to a Keyblade.  
Hikari smirked, "Now I know what to do. Spike, shut the door"  
Spike paused, concerned for his friends safety and then nodded before running to the door, killing Heartless on his way.  
"Spike, I can't come back through the door." Hikari said, pushing the door from inside. "I'm human now, only darkness can cross the door. But I'll find a way back"  
"I'll see you then." Spike said, "Look after yourself"  
Hikari nodded, and gave the last push to the door as Spike continued to pull.  
Both men stood back away from the door as their Keyblades began to react with the closing of the door. They held out the Keyblades and watched as a powerful light went from them and in to the door, locking it.  
"I hope he gets back okay." Hikari said to himself, "He shouldn't have too much trouble now that we've taken care of the Heartless. For good"  
The ground around Spike began to shake, it started to crack apart as the path started to disappear.  
Some time after, Spike found himself on a path in the middle of a large green field. This is where he began his long journey home. 


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 - Epilogue - Home Coming

He stood before a large gate leading in to the village, his long light brown hair flowing in the wind as he stare through the gates at the market in the centre of the village. A rustling noise to his right caught his attention, he looked up to see a man wearing an orange uniform sitting on a chair in a large, towering guard post. The man was obviously a guard.  
The guard looked down at the man. "Who are you"  
The man spoke in a oddly familiar voice, "Spike will tell you who I am"  
"How do you know that name"  
"He is an old friend, a good friend. Can you tell him I am here"  
The guard nodded hesitantly and proceeded to climb down the ladder before running to a large, white house to the left of the gate.  
The man noticed the sun and looked it at with his blue eyes, it had been a long time since he had seen that bright sun above him in the sky. He couldn't remember the last time he looked at it. He let out a sigh as he looked back down at the house that the guard had gone in, he saw the guard come back out of the door followed by Spike. The man grinned.  
"So you made it back?" Spike said happily, "It's good to see you again, Hikari"  
"This… is Hikari? But he's human?" The guard said shocked.  
Hikari smirked, "I bet he didn't know I had this either." He held out his hand at his side and his Keyblade materialised in his palm.  
"Let the man in." Spike said to the guard impatiently.  
"Yes- Yes sir"  
The guard walked over to the bottom of the guard post he had been standing on and put his hand on a small, wooden wheel. As he turned it the gates opened in front of Hikari, granting him entrance in to the village.  
"It's changed." Hikari said, noticing how much the village had changed since the day he left to go to the castle.  
Spike looked at the busy market place "Well now that the Heartless are gone, the people have nothing left to fear"  
"Of course. I know that, I just never expected it to change this much in… how long has it been"  
"Well it's been five years since we locked Kingdom Hearts"  
"How long have you been back"  
"Well it must have been about two years after that day so… three years"  
"Find any trouble along the way"  
"Not really, it was just a lot of walking."

The two men finished their meal. Spike had a pizza slice, Hikari had a piece of steak pie.  
Spike looked across the table at Hikari, "What about you? You get in to any trouble getting back"  
"Not too much, I nearly got mugged in one town in a small world before getting back to this one but my guns proved more than useful. I didn't kill them though I jus-" Hikari paused.  
Spike looked at Hikari in worry, "What's wrong"  
"Your hair"  
"My hair"  
"Your hair"  
"What about my hair"  
"It's… different"  
"Well yeah, I got it shaved a few months back. It's grown back quite well though." Spike said, running his fingers through his short hair.  
"I've only just noticed it." Hikari chuckled.  
The two men began to laugh hysterically, thankful for being reunited.  
Spike got his laughter under control in time to say "Hey, there's someone want you to meet. Wait here." before running back to his house.  
Hikari thought for a moment, could Spike be going to get Lori? No, he's already met her. He couldn't imagine who he was going to bring to meet him.  
"Hikari." Spike's voice came from behind, Hikari turned around to see Spike holding a small boys hand. The boy had long blond hair and deep blue eyes. "This is Hiroshima, my son"  
Hikari nearly fell out of his seat, "You have a son"  
"Yeah, me and Lori finally got married"  
Hikari smiled and knelt down and looked in little Hiroshima's eyes.  
"Hello Hiroshima, how old are you"  
"Two." The little boy said, as if he had said it so many times before.  
"Oh, hey I guess it's kind lucky I picked these up on the way here." Hikari said as he pulled out four little sweets from his back pocket, he held them out to Hiroshima. "You like sweets"  
"Yeb" Hiroshima said as an alternative for the word 'Yes' before taking the sweets from Hikari's hand.  
"What do you say to Uncle Hikari?" Spike said to his son.  
"Thanki you." Hiroshima said, more to his father than to Hikari.  
Hikari chuckled, "No problemo. I'll pick some more up for you next time I go that way"  
"As long as they don't make you fat, eh little buddy?" Spike said, patting his son's head.

"It's the fifth anniversary of freedom from the Heartless in a week. We hold a festival every year for it, I think you should say some words this year." Spike said, one hand gripping the door frame.  
Spike, Hikari and Lori were in Spike's living room, they had been talking for the past half an hour about what had been happening since Hikari was last in the village.  
"Me? But why?" Hikari said, surprised by Spike's proposal.  
"You're one of the heroes of that day, along with everybody else who fought in that castle on that day"  
"Yeah but… people aren't going to like me around here. I was a Heartless"  
"Relax. Most of them know that you're a good guy, you were the one who got us to Kingdom Hearts and locked that big door anyway"  
"I'm not sure"  
"Oh come on Hikari, do it for me, Spike and Hiroshima if not for yourself." Lori butted in.  
Hikari paused for a moment, staring at the ground.  
"Alright, I'll do it"  
Spike and Lori stood up and hugged Hikari.  
"Yo, is anybody home?" A voice came from the door.  
"Hey Pedro, through here." Spike shouted.

"So when did you get back?" Pedro asked Hikari, sitting on the garden chair.  
"A few hours ago. Spike let me in to the village"  
"I see, ese. What you been up to for the past five years then"  
"Trying to get back here"  
"For five years? Man, that would kill me"  
"Nearly did kill me, but I found a quiet little village where they took care of me for a few months then I got back on the trail to here"  
"I see. I see"  
Spike came back outside, holding two glasses in his hands. He put the glasses on the table and took a seat.  
Hikari looked up, "You know, Spike. I've been thinking about something that Belmin said to us"  
"What's that?" Spike asked.  
"He said that he got Belmin to open some door in this world for the darkness to get in, right"  
"Yeah, but that was the door to Kingdom Hearts. Wasn't it"  
"I don't think so. That big white path we were on seemed like it was in another world"  
"Oh. So we didn't close the door to our world"  
"No"  
"I guess that means…"

Meanwhile…  
"I have been getting increasingly interested in the darkness in people's hearts as of late." A voice said, belonging to a tall man with long white hair.  
"I see. And what do you plan to do about this then…" Another voice could be heard, softer than the first.  
"…King Ansem?"

The End 


End file.
